Downtown zoning plan moves ahead

Friday

Jul 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

TUSCALOOSA | A Texas-based consulting firm could help city officials create new rules that will govern downtown development.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | A Texas-based consulting firm could help city officials create new rules that will govern downtown development.Code Studio was last hired by City Hall to develop the regulations for the new housing and residential/retail zones that came from the Tuscaloosa Forward plan after the April 27, 2011, tornado.Now, the City Council’s Public Projects Committee has signed off on a $29,430 contract with the firm to help the city’s Planning and Development Services Department create new zoning rules for downtown Tuscaloosa.The full City Council could vote on the contract as early as next week.John McConnell, Planning and Development Services director, said the codes will be crafted to reflect the intent of the Greater Downtown Plan, which was completed in 2010 but never fully implemented.While the plan addresses numerous aspects of the downtown area — residential, commercial and historic areas, among others — McConnell said he was unsure how many different downtown districts would result from the zoning development process.“We don’t know how many districts yet,” McConnell said. “It really depends on us digging in and working with our technical advisers, and we’ll determine that once we’ve analyzed and put everything together.”Once complete, the new downtown zoning codes will go before a yet-to-be-formed advisory committee. McConnell said he wants the committee to have representatives from the University of Alabama, business owners, downtown residents and historic preservationists.After the committee’s review and suggestions, the new codes will then go to before the public and, ultimately, the City Council for approval.“It’s a very ambitious goal, but we have an inter-departmental staff of people working on it,” McConnell said. “We hope to have this by the end of the year, but doing things right takes time. We don’t want to expedite it so much that we don’t get it right.”McConnell announced last month that efforts to begin implementing the Greater Downtown Plan were underway.The new districts will replace the Downtown/Riverfront Overlay District that was enacted in 2007 as a stop-gap measure to halt unbridled development.In addition to the new zones, the implementation of the Greater Downtown Plan will include planned infrastructure and transportation upgrades to improve pedestrian movement and guidance on how to find particular areas of interest.“The Greater Downtown Plan stresses how important it is to create a more walkable downtown,” McConnell said.To fund implementation of the plan, a specialized district tax called a Tax-Increment Financing District could be used to earmark property tax increases in the area to fund road, sewer and other work within the district.As proposed, the rezonings will occur in an area bordered by the Black Warrior River to the north, 15th Street to the south, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the west and Queen City Avenue to the east.However, the implementation team and oversight committee could determine this area should be reduced to adequately carry out the plan.